February is the month where the problems of racism are remembered. From the times of slavery, the blatant discrimination through our history, and triumph during the civil rights movement, it reminds us to not repeat the past.
While blacks in the United States have won more liberty since the Civil Rights era, their African counterparts have not had such success. For decades the continent has been plagued by famine, poverty, and war. A current major crisis is the situation in Darfur, Sudan where the United Nations has estimated 400,000 deaths and 2.5 million people displaced since 2003.
The country has been plagued by civil conflict for years, but the current conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) attacked police stations, the army, and military outposts because of discrimination by the government against the non-Arab population. To combat the rebels, the Sudanese government armed a counter insurgency group named Janjaweed. The Janjaweed have since committed atrocities that have devastated Darfur.
"We have a vicious war going on which is leading to the violation of human rights on a scale comparable to historic situations, increasingly, for example, Rwanda," former UN Development Program Resident Representative for Sudan Mukesh Kapila said.
During 2002-2003, Kapila was a representative stationed in Sudan and brought widespread media attention of the violence when he said Darfur was the "world's greatest humanitarian crisis."
The SLM originally rebelled because of claims that the Sudanese government favored the Arab Muslim population over the non-Arab one. According to a recent UN report, however, civilian deaths by the Janjaweed and Sudanese military have been indiscriminate; everyone in Darfur is being targeted. Then Secretary-General Kofi Annon of the United Nations set up a commission to investigate human rights violations in Darfur.
"The commission found that Sudan's government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks," the report by the five-member commission said.
Many have criticized the report, mainly because if the report had found genocide taking place, the UN would need to act. Instead, the UN is currently at a standstill.
Refugees from the violence are currently being protected by under funded African Union troops and are living in makeshift camps.
"The situation there is totally unacceptable. Two million people remain in camps and as many as four million are in need of food aid," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
International response to the conflict has been significant. Organizations such as SaveDarfur.org have been created hoping to raise awareness and actors such as George Clooney have lobbied for help in protecting refugees. Even with an international response such as President Bush criticizing the Sudanese government, enough is still not being done. According to the World Health Organization, the coordinating authority of international public health for the UN, 10,000 people will die each month in Darfur. Until UN troops are allowed to enter Sudan and aid African Union troops in protecting the victims, the situation in Darfur will not improve. Over 60 years ago, the world stood by as more than a million people were sent to concentration camps by the Nazis. When it was over, the world said “never again.” The question now is if they will keep their word.
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